Notes / Commercial Description:
Hugh Malone begins with a grain bill featuring a blend of Maine grown barley, imported Pilsner, and raw wheat malt. At the beginning of run off, we add a portion of hops to the sweet wort in the kettle; a technique known as "first wort hopping". As the boil begins, a generous amount of Chinook hops are added for bittering. Later, in the whirlpool, the beer is hopped with a blend of Centennial and Amarillo, for aroma. This same blend is used, post fermentation, to lend additional hop character to the finished beer. The result is a complex brew with a malty palate, intense hop aromas, pronounced bitterness and a pleasantly dry finish.

Most people I have spoken with about this beer find that it falls off the bridge connecting IPAs to beautiful Belgian Golden Ales. Yet, I think otherwise. The taste is simple, pure, and clean. It is not an IPA, bursting with piney resin and floral nodes of hops (as its namesake might suggest), nor is it a deep rich traditional Belgian. But somehow I feel like it takes both sides into account and maintains a simplicity that is rare to find amidst the current market of double and triple super beers. Pours a light honey tone, drinks lightly and clean, and goes down with a slight hint of alcohol. It has a lot of the qualities of both beers it references, sacrificing a few of the deepest, most complex characteristics, but finishes refreshingly and in harmony with a hot summer eve.

I tasted it at the bottle shop at Pizza Port in Carlsbad, CA and loved every drop.

Had my first Hugh Malone last weekend at the Great Lost Bear in Portland, ME. Excellent flavor and taste, definitely different than a typical American IPA. A sweet, faintly fruity beer -- poured a cloudy dark copper color with a nice head. Hard to describe the unique flavor -- someone else called it piney, which is about as good a description as I can think of. Don't go into this expecting it to taste like every other IPA you've tried -- it's got its own taste and is definitely worth a try. As for drinkability - you do notice it is an 8.5% beer, and more than two in a sitting would be tough.

Upon opening the bottle I smelled a piney sweetness that I wasn't expecting. I knew this was an IPA, but not a beglian one. Pouring into a Caracole tulip glass, there was a split between head and liquid, the head dissovled quickly.

There are faint smells of hops. It could be cascade, i'm not sure. This beer at first feels more like an IPA, but you eventually get that belgian kick. This is an interesting combo because I would never put these two flavors together. There's the sweetness of the belgian influence, but there's that IPA punch without the intense IPA flavor, however, after several burps, I can taste the IPA on the way back up. After a few more sips I realize that the IPA aspect kinda takes a back seat, which is fine. It all works out in the end.

This is definitely a beer that doesn't want to be just one kinda beer. This is not a wild or adventurous beer, but it's a great unexpected combination that works really well, which makes the experience special. Mind you this is my first 'belgian IPA', it definitely got me to investigate more.

Pours a glowing honey/orange color, big fluffy white head, fades very slowly and leaves a ton of lacing. Smells glorious, lots of resinous piney hops, sweet caramel malt, and a whiff of Belgian yeast. Taste is a bright citric hop explosion, lots of pine notes, but all elegantly balanced by the sweetness of the malt. Creamy mouthfeel, tight carbonation, tons of lingering bitterness on the back and underside of the tongue. This is absolutely one of the tastiest beers I've had. Exquisite!!!

Pours a slightly hazy bright golden amber with a big puffy white head that lasted the duration of the session and left very good lacing. The smell is subdued and balanced for an IPA with some citrus hops but a significant sweet bready malt aroma as well. Taste is also heavy with sweet malts with the hops playing a supporting role. The mouthfeel is very creamy with good carbonation and a slight hop bitterness in the finish. Very crisp and clean. This is an extremely nice beer and the low-key hop profile makes it more drinkable than the alcohol indicates. Recommended.

Smell- Has some of everything. Saison style funky yeast nose with a good amount of caramel candied malt scents. Yes, hops as well. Fruity tropical scents. Maybe orange and apple?

Taste- Could be a tad more hoppier than it was. Don't know if this qualifies for a Belgian IPA or not. Has a Blegian Stong Ale flavor about it with sweet malt and light amounts of clove and corriander. Hops are semi bitter, but certainly don't play the overwhelming role here.

Mouthfeel- Brisk carbonation level with mild hoppy aftertaste. More sweet in the aftertaste than hoppy.

Drinkability- Despite not being as hoppy as expected, it did taste very good and I thought it was one of Allagash's better special releases...even though it wasn't truly to style. Certainly not worth the $14.99 price tag when I can get Hop To it which is better for under $10.

Pours a rusty, muddy amber wth a slow recedng head, and very hard to see bubbling through the thick haze. The color looks just an IPA with ome more haze tan usual. The aroma is a medium sweet biscuit with a touch of honey a spicey touch of hoppy earth. The tate starts with the sweet biscuity toasted malts with notes of grains of pardise andhoney. The hops lend a light touch of lemon and some pine forest. The palate is a good balance of sweetness and bitterness. THe finish is long and mildly bitter. Great beer worth buying again and again

Poured out of the 750ml bottle into a wide wine glass a murky reddish-gold with a decent, whipped egg-white head with good retention that released nice fruity yeast tones. Mouthfeel was lighter than I would have expected, and it has a pleasant dry, bitter finish.

I split a case of this beer with a friend with the intention of aging the other two bottles- one for a year and the other to be determined. I think this beer has a lot going on and time will really mellow it out and give it some more rewarding characteristics.

Over all, this is a nice beer- great packaging and nice little note about donating a buck a bottle to community groups in Maine. But in the end, it's nothing that blew me away and I can only look forward to seeing what this guy has in store next July 13th.

I popped a 750 and poured into a goblet. Slightly hazy copper color with a nice tan head. Bubbles are big and the head fades to a layer of foam fast, but it does hang nicely on the glass.

Aroma of honey, with some hop spice and a bit of an underlying sour funkiness that I am not sure is intentional. The hops are refreshing to the nose and the whole thing does blend nicely together to form a pleasant aroma.

Things go a bit south from there when tasting this Belgian IPA though. Starts with an initial hop flavor that rapidly fades to a meld of alcohol and some more of that sour funk. Not overwhelming or anything, but it's enough to stand out among the other flavors. Finish is short but bitter and hot with alcohol.

Decent body and seriously carbonated. All in all I would say this beer is interesting and I am glad I tried it. It's not something I would seek out again though. A far cry from the Curieux that I can't get enough of.

Poured from a 750ml corked top bottle into an imperial pint glass. Received as an extra in a trade from paulthebeerguru, thanks paul!

A: A nice light burnt orange color with a deep two finger off white head and decent lacing.

S: Belgian yeast with fruit smells coupled with a malt sweetness and a faint smell of hops.

T: Citrus fruit like orange and apples coupled with a fairly heavy belgian yeast character and sweet malts. A faint floral hop flavor can be picked up on the finish, but by no means is this beer hoppy.

M: Medium to heavy with the yeasty charactaristic lingering on. You can feel the 8.5% alcohol but it's not offensive.

D: For me this has low drinkability. I'm not the hugest belgian guy and I was hoping this beer had more of an IPA character to it than a belgian character, but alas it didn't.

Overall this beer swings more towards the belgian side of the coin and that is not my bag. It was a solid beer that I am glad I tried, but I won't seek it out again. Belgians just are not my thing.

S: Lots of citrus on nose with some fruitiness (fresh apples), and light pine scents.

T: Nice malty palate, citrus and oranges, some sourness, and a pine bittering flowery hop presence. Theres some grapefruit, spicy yeast highlights, along with some sweet candi sugar sweetness. Spicy hops finish out the flavor. Beer is labeled as a Belgian IPA. There is also a touch of oakiness and woody character to the beer.

I purchased a few bottles of these while on vacation in Maine last summer. I enjoyed one last August, and then broke out this second bottle to celebrate my 40th birthday in May 2008

Poured a burnt orange color, nice dense rocky head
Aroma is peaty, and tropical
Soft warming alcohol taste on the pallet with hints of acetone. Chewy almost dank yet light in body. Almost thin. This beer was mighty fine. It's a very unique taste for certain.
Get a bottle and support MOFGA today.

Purchased when this first got released. I drank one back then but never reviewed it and forgot I had another bottle.

Pours a cloudy copper with orange highlights when held to the light. A bit of a gusher after uncorking the bottle, so a quick pour formed over three fingers of beige head that receded slowly. There's a whirlwind of carbonation in the center of the glass. Not much lacing .

Nose is mostly Belgian yeast, with an earthy, musty aroma, and some floral hops in the background.

Taste is rye bread, green apple and pale malts up front, followed by some white pepper and yeast with a slightly sour kick. Some juicy, floral hops lead into a sour, bitter finish.

Creamy, medium-bodied, with enough carbonation to keep it lively.

Although the hops have faded quite a bit compared to when it was fresh, this was still a very enjoyable beer. I remember it being a good interpretation of a Belgian IPA when I had it last summer, and it was interesting to see how this developed with almost a year in the cellar.

Pours copper with a huge foamy white head that settles. Some lacing sticks.

The smell is citric/herbal, spicy, yeasty, with a light whiff of alcohol.

The taset is of bitter citric notes that soon become very restrained. Sourness dominates with some caramelish sweetness. Towards a Belgian IPA, but in a restrained way, and doesn't really capture the bitterness it as well as it could. More of a BSDA with a subtle touch of Simcoe hops (making it rather unique)

Lighter bodied, with a touch of a boozy kick.

It has a Belgian-esque sweet and sour going on, but falls short of a really good BIPA. More hops, please! Still, it's pretty drinkable and pretty good, though not worth the hefty price tag.

750ml corked & caged. And what on earth is a Belgian IPA? I suppose I bought this one to find out. It hits the glass murky golden tan with a thin but determined light tan head and a hint of lace. The smell is honey, coriander, caramel. Seems more belgian than ipa so far. The taste is floral, caramel, peppery, with an element of mown grass and a very dry finish. Very odd mix. It grows on me, though. The mouthfeel is very soft & silky, with nice carbonation balance. Drinkability is good enough to polish off the bottle. Probably won't enter the regular rotation but definitely an experience to have.

Again sorta flora.. yeasty fruitiness with significant hints of Belgian characteristics... reminds me more of a fresh SBPA but with more hop notes... fairly dry throughout but the dry finish is where the hops come back in... mouthfeel is right for an IPA.. but it is still pretty fizzy.

Good beer certainly right up there with Urthel and Chouffe Dobbelen ... Now I feel like I need to go get these two beers right now and compare them while Hugh is still fresh in my memory ... oh well ... maybe this weekend.

T. Sweet esters, fruity, hint of tartness, apples and grain, keep thinking this should be more dry. Light caramel malt and wet, musty, earthy hops shine through. Interesting, but not a great blend of tastes. Yeast character a bit too strong here.

I actually drank this as my first beer of the super bowl this year. Poured at cellar temp into a wine glass.
The beer exhibits a mahogany color with garnet highlights when held up to the light. A fizzy beige head of .5 cm foams up and fades. Aroma is malty with caramel and brown sugar with some toffee notes too. No real hop presence.
First sip reveals an average body and fine fizzy carbonation.

Flavor is similar to nose with sweet caramel and toffee and again no hop presence that I detect. No alcohol either which is nice. A very straight forward beer that is easy to drink. Not very complex. I am very surprised to see it listed as a Belgian IPA cause the hops were missing.
I wasnt overly impressed with this beer.

Out of a 750ml corked and caged bottle. Pours a cloudy dirt brown color with a good off-white head that left some nice soapy lacing on the glass. The smell is some what faint, I pick up some granny smith apple, lemon, and very light spice. The taste is light bready malt, tart apples, and some dry bittering hops. Not much in the way of Belgian phenols or candi sugar, it is almost hard to detect the Belgian style. The hops don't really standout either. The feel is moderate and quite fizzy. A bit over carbonated actually. The finish is dry, almost puckering. The beer isn't bad but I believe it missed its mark as a Belgian IPA. Not enough Belgian flavors and the hops don't standout. Seems to be more malty than other BIPAs, perhaps this is the reason.

Starts gushing as soon as I popped the cork. I poured this one slowly and ended up with a beautiful fluffy head that lasts throughout most of the beer. Good lacing. Has a hazy brown color. Large number of bubbles continuously rising to the top.

750ml bottle: This one opened with a loud POP, but fortunately there was no spillage. It pours a cloudy, dark amber color with a bit of an off-white head to it. It leaves some lacing down the glass. There is a bready, spicy and yeasty nose to the beer, as well as some citrus (mainly grapefruit) and pine also. An interesting taste. Some breadiness and yeastiness to it, with a hint of apricots in there. There is a hint of sweetness despite the hop presence. Somewhere between medium and full bodied, yet there is still a perception of lightness to it. This definitely grows on you.

My wife gave me this bottle for Christmas. I have been testing my patience, but finally gave in to temptation this evening and cracked it open. Bully for me.

Poured from the big bottle into a Belgian snifter, the Hugh Malone appears a dark bronze/orange color - darker than I expected, for some reason - with a big bubbly head that leaves behind some decent lace. Held up to the light it appears a vibrant golden hue. The nose is light and airy, strangely fruity (although I cannot place the fruit), and herbal. Before logging into to BA tonight, I wasn't sure what style of beer this was. Now that I know it's listed as a "belgian IPA" I am more inclined to attribute certain qualities to it. Funny how that works. Still, to me this smells like a wild ale. I detect brettanomyces, even though the wild yeast is not in there. Go figure. The taste is also light and strangely fruity, but also dense and herbal. Leaves an odd, bitter aftertaste. I guess that's the "IPA" at work. Mouthfeel is crisp and sharp. And dry.

I like this beer. It grows on you as it warms up, in my opinion. I am half-way through the bottle and I prefer it much more now than at first sip. It's a relatively light (although not in ABV; it's 8.5%) and easy-drinking ale. Smoother as it warms up, with more discernable Belgian IPA qualities slowly emerging. Give it a try; it's worth it.